Northstead Manor

Gerry Adams says he’s standing for the Dail. He previously said that should he become a candidate he’d resign his Westminster seat. The press have, of course, followed this up and find that he is still a UK MP. They asked his party machine what was going on an they insisted that Gerry had sent in a letter of resignation. They went on to say that this was good enough for them and that Gerry wasn’t going to indulge in any antiquated parliamentary tomfoolery. Quite right in my view.

I’m pleased to say however that Mr Speaker didn’t make a fuss, unlike some who started wittering on about the constitution, but wrote back saying “Thank you. We’ve treated your letter as an application for the stewardship of Northstead Manor, you’ve been appointed, you’re no longer an MP, please send back your key to the front door.”

The other person who was supposed to be applying for the job (the Chiltern Hundreds are being stewarded by someone else) was Eric Illsley. According to Look North yesterday he still hadn’t and was still MP for Barnsley. Maybe he’s waiting for one of these jobs to come vacant. Perhaps he’s waiting to see whether or not he gets a custodial sentence and can cling on. If he does it will be a bit of a blow for the local Labour party who’ve selected a candidate to fight the seat. In a break with tradition the new boy is neither a local, nor connected with mining. A former army officer it’s perhaps appropriate that he’s been chosen. With the closure of the pits many local lads have little choice but to sign up, so maybe he represents the new face of Barnsley.

Eric Illsley may also feel a bit miffed that he’s been done for embezzling just £14,000. True, he actually fabricated bogus receipts but at least he turned up to represent his constituents. Gerry Adams never took his seat. According to the press he nonetheless quite properly claimed allowances which have been paid to him. Funny old world.